Mechanism for operating sawmill set-works.



W. M. WILKIN.

MECHANISM FOR OPERATING SAWMILL SET WORKS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 6, 19I5- PatentedJune 26,

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W. IVI. WILKIN.

MECHANISNI FOR OPERATING SAWMILL SET WORKS.

APPLICATION FILED DEc.6.1915.

Patented June 26, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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W. IVI. WlLKlN.

MECHANISM FoR OPERATING SAWMILL SET WORKS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 6. 1955. 1,230,969. Patented June 2R, 1917. v

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WILLIAM IVI. WILKIN, 0F ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

MECHANISM FOR OPERATING SAWMILL SET-WORKS.

'Leccese Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 26, 1917.

Application filed Decembei` 6, 1915. Serial No. 65,350.

T 0 all whom t may concern Ie it known that I, `W1LLIAM M. IVILKIN, acitizenof the United States, residing at Erie, in the county of Erie andState of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin `Mechanisms for Operating ASawmill Set-.Works5-and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear-,and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being' had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to saw mill machinery, and more especially tovpoweractuated set-works for saw-carriages.

The objects of my invention are, to devise a power actuated mechanismfor installation upon a saw-carriage which can be operated to move thehead-block knees forward or backward; and'which, when so moving saidhead-block knees, will maintain a continuous movement thereof until theprescribed distance has been traveled. Also to devise a suitable meansby which a power conveying medium may be delivered to the powe1 actuatedmechanism installed upon the saw-carriage, andconveyed therefrom.

In constructing mechanism to embody 'my invention, I provide a cylinderand piston mechanism of suilicient length of travelfto move thehead-block knees forward Sulliciently to saw up logs of the averagediameter. This cylinder and piston mechanism I provide with suitablevalve mechanism to control the admission and exhaustofa suitable powerconveying fluid to and from said cylinder. This cylinder and. pistonmechanism I secure longitudinally to the side of the saw-carriageopposite the saw side movement of the piston and rack-bar, the

said line-shaft will be caused to rotate in unison with said transverseshaft.

In order to deliver a power conveying fluid to said cylinder and pistonmechanism, I place adjacent to the side of the saw-carriage, and alsoadjacent to the termini of the longitudinal travel of the saw-carriage,rotary drums which are provided .with tubular axes; the axis of one ofsaid drums commit nicating with a suitable source of power supply,andthe axis of the other drum leading to a desired point of exhaust.From the intake side of the valve mechanism of said cylinder and pistonmechanism to the drum which communicates with the source of powersupply, Iprovide a flexible tube, which is wrapped around said drum asuflicient number of times to permit the sawcarriage to move to theopposite extreme of its travel, the said lexible tube being connectedwith the tubular axis of said drum; and from the exhaust side of saidvalve mechanism I provide a like flexible tube which is adapted to bewound upon the drum through which the exhaust passes, as thesaw-carriage travels toward that drum, the said exhaust tube beingconnected with the axis of the exhaust drum, and I also provide means,controlled by the longitudinal movement of the saw-carriage, to causesaid drums to so revolve, as the saw-carriage moves forward andbackward, that the said flexible tubes' willl be maintained taut.

These and otherfeatures 7of my invention are hereinafter fullydescribedand pointed out and areillustratedin the accompanying drawings, in whichY Figure 1, is a plan view of a portion of a run-way of a saw-carriage,with a portion of va saw-carriage thereon, provided with set-worksmechanism embodying my invention. y

Fig. 2, is a side view of the' portion of a saw-carriage shown in Fig. 1and of the run-way thereof, with a portion thereof broken out so as toset one of the drums forward in the drawing.

Fig. 3, is an enlarged side elevation of mechanism embodying myinvention.

Fig. 4, is a plan view of the same.

Fig. 5, is a transverse section of the same on the line looking in thedirection of the arrow e, in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6, is a longitudinal section of the same on the line g/-g/ lookingin the direction of the arrow fw, in Fig. .4.

F ig. 7, is a central section of one of the hose drums.

Fig. 8, is a section of a Valve adapted for use with my invention.

In these drawings, A indicates one of the wheel tracks of a saw-carriagerun-way upon which the wheels A', under one side B, of a saw-carriage,tread. B indicates a portion of the side-beam of a saw-carriage,opposite the saw side of the carriage (broken away) which is secured tothe beam (not shown) on the saw side of the carriage by means ofcross-beams, B, and B2 B2, in the usual manner. Upon the side beam B,one end of the usual head-blocks B3, is placed and secured, upon whichthe knees C, operate in the usual manner. Journaled in the head-blocksB3, and cross-beams B2, there is the usual line-shaft C', upon which,within the head-blocks B3, are secured spurgear wheels G2, whichintermesh with rackbars C3, secured to the under edges of the knees, bymeans of which said knees are forced to travel forward and backward uponthe head-blocks B2, yin the usual manner; all of which parts being oldand well known in the art. It is also a well ,known fact that thesaw-carriages are caused to travel longitudinally forwznd and backwardupon the track A, in the performance of the function for which they areconstructed and therefore mechanism for causing such travel is not shownor described herein.

Upon the line-shaft C', between the cross.- beams B2, I place amiter-gear wheel D, and in suitable bearings E, and E, secured upon theside-beam B, of the saw-carriage, I mount a transverse shaft F, (seeFigs. 4 and 5) and I secure upon the shaft F, a mitergear F', whichintermeshes with the mitergear D, on the line-shaft C. Upon the shaft F,I place a spur-gear wheel F2, which is provided with a sleeve hub, oneend of which extends outwardly around said shaft F, within the bearingE, and is provided with an annular series of clutch-teeth f, saidspur-gear being rotatable upon said shaft F. Upon the shaft F, inside ofthe spur-gear F2, I secure a friction wheel F3, by means of a key f3, sothat said friction wheel is non-rotatable on said shaft F. rfhe bearingsE and Ef, are supported by a frame E2, which is secured upon thesidebeam B, of the saw-carriage, and I also preferably provide saidframe with a bracket, E3, under the bearing E", which curves backward.under the spur-gear F2, and is secured to the under side of the sidebeamB.

Upon the shaft F, I place a clutch-collar F2, which engages the shaft F,by means of a spline 7", and groove in the usual manner, said clutchcollar having an annular series of clutch-teeth which intermesh withYthe .clutch-teeth 7, on the outer end of the sleeve hub of thespur-gear wheel F2, in the ,usuel manner, I provide a lever F5, which ispivoted upon an ear f2, on the bracket E3, for operating theclutch-collar F2, which lever is provided with the usual and ordi- IN1-Y,Illechanism for engaging and operating said clutch-collar to cause itto engage or be disengaged from the clutch-teeth f, on said sleeve-hubof the spur-gear F2. The bracket E2, is provided with a slide-surface e,on its upper side under said spur-gear Wheel F2, for the purposehereinafter set forth.

Mounted upon the hub of the friction wheel F3, is a lever G, which isprovided with an eccentric gripper G, pivoted thereon and adapted toengage the periphery of the friction wheel F3, so as toy be operated 1none direction by said wheel F2; and upon said lever Gr, I place aspring-pressed handgrip Ilever g, which is connected with a lever gf,(see Figs. 3 and 6) non-rotatably secured to the pivot of the eccentricgripper G, by means of a rod g2, so that the springpressed lever g,operates to normally maintain the eccentric gripper G, in engagementwith the friction'wheel F3. Upon the frame'E'2, (see Figs. 3, 4, 5 and6) I secure a sem1-c1rc`ular gage-bar H, which is pirovided with a stopH", to limit the backward movement of the lever G; and said gagebar H,is also provided with a series of holes L, in which may be placed astop-pin t, (see Figs. 4, 5, and 6)` to limit the forward movement ofthe rlever G. Upon the frame E2, I secure a bracket J, (see Figs. 3 and4) upon which is pivoted a lever J which lever 1s provided with aprojection or roller J2, adapted to be engaged by the lever G, on itsbackward movement;

Upon the side-beam B, I secure a cylinder K, in which there is a piston(not shown) secured to a piston-rod K, which proJects from said cylinderK, through a stufling-box 7c, of usual and ordinary vconstruction,Secured to the end of the pistonrod Kf, is a rack-bar L, which restsupon the slide surface e, on the bracket E2, and mtermeshes with thespur-wheel F2. The length of the travel of the piston-rod VK', 1spreferably sufficient to cause the spurwheel F2, and vshaft F, to rotatea sufficient number of times to cause the line-shaft C. to move theknees C, sufficiently backward and forward to saw logs of average sizewithout reversing` the travel of the pistonrod K", and rack-bar L, ashereinafter described. When, however, sufficient travel of the knees C,cannot be had, with one forward or backward movement of the rackbar L,the lever F5, is operated to disengage the clutch-collar E4, and thenthe rackbar L, is drawn backward', and the clutch 130 again closed, whenthe rack-bar L, may be again operated to move the knees C, farther inthe desired direction. From each end of the cylinderK, a pipe M, leadsto a valve M', (see Fig. 8) and from one side of said valve a fluidsupply pipe N, leads to a suitable source of supply (not shown) and fromthe opposite side of said valve an exhaust pipe N', leads to a point ofexhaust (not shown) as hereinafter described. The valvelVI, is providedwith an operating lever m, which, when in the position shown by fulllines in Figs. 3 and S holds the valve into a neutral position as shownin Fig. 8,

so that fluid cannot How into the pipes M,

The construction of the valve M', illus-` trated in Fig. 8 is old andwell known, and is only illustrated for the purpose of describing theoperation of the mechanism. From the lever m, a rod O, extends and ispivoted to the lever J This rod O, is pron vided with a turnbuckle O",whereby the length of the same may be adjusted in order to regulate thevalve M', so that the valve will be closed and the power completely shutoff at the moment the lever Gr, engages the permanent stop H'. For thepurpose of conveying the operative fluid from the source of supplyv (notshown) to the pipe N, I provide a flexible tube P, which extends fromthe pipe N, to a drum P', and is wound around the drum P', a suflicientnumber of times to permit the saw-carriage to travel on the track A, toits extreme limit of travel away from the drum P', before unwinding theentire length of the flexible tube- P. The drum is mounted upon a hollowaxis p, (see Fig. 7) one end of whichy is closed and the other endthereof being Vconnected by means of a suitable joint p', with a fluidsupply pipe P2, leading to a suitable source of supply. The end of theflexible tube P,

on the drum P', is connected with the hollow.

axis p, of the drum P', by means of suitable connections 02, so thatfluid introduced into the supply pipe P2, will flow into the flexibletube P, through the hollow axis ;0, and connections p2. From the exhaustpipe N', a flexible tube Q, leads to a duplicate Q', of the drum P', andcommunicates with the exhaust pipe Q2, in like manner as in the case ofthe drum P'. In order to maintain the flexible tubes P and Q, wound uparound the drums P' and Q', I provide a cable-belt' R, which passesaround both drums, and I secure one side of said belt to the side-beamB, of the saw-carriage by means of clampbrackets S, S, in which thecable R, is tightly clamped so that as the saw-carriage travels forwardand backward upon its track A, the

cable R, is caused thereby to rotate the drums P' and Q', to wind theflexible tube Q, upon the drum Q', and unwind the flexible tube P, fromthe drum P', and vice versa.

In operation, the grip-lever g, is operated to raise the eccentricgripper G', ofli of the friction wheel F3, and the lever G, is movedforward until it contacts with the stop-pin la', when the gripper G', isallowed to engage the friction-wheel F3, and the lever G, allowed toremain in that position. rIhe lever J is then moved forward into theposition thereof shown by broken lines. in Fig. 3, which, through therod O, moves the valve lever fm, forward from the neutral position asshown by full lines in Figs. 3 and 8, to the position thereof indicatedby the broken line m', in Fig. S, which operates the valve l so thatfluid flows from the supply pipe N, through the valve and pipe M,leadingto the rear end of the cylinder K, behind the vpiston therein andthereby forces the rack-bar L, forward, which causes the spur-gear F 2,shaft E, and friction wheel F3, to rotate, and through the miter-gearF', and D, causing the line-shaft C', to move the knees C, forward. Thismovement of the friction wheel F3, through the eccentric gripper Gr'causes the lever G, to move backward to the position thereof shown byfull lines in Figs. 3 and 6, during which movement the projecting rollerJ2 on the lever J', is engaged by the lever G. and the lever J', and thevalve-lever m, moved back to their neutral positions, as indicated byfull lines in Fig. 3, which stops the flow of fluid into the cylinder K,behind the pistonV therein and the forward movement of the rackbar L,ceases, and all the parts of the mechanism will remain at rest until theoperation of the levers G, and J', is repeated as above described.vWhen, however, the rack-bar L, has reached the limit of its forwardtravel and it is desired to move the knees C, still farther forward, theclutch-lever F5, is operated to open the clutch F 4, and the lever J',is thrown backward to admit fluid into the front end of the cylinder, todraw the rack-bar L, back to the position thereof shown by full lines inFig. 3, when the clutch F4, is again closed and the operation abovedescribed repeated until the knees have reached the limit of theirforward travel, when the piston and rack-bar may be used to draw theknees back to their rearmost position for the reception of another logupon the head-blocks B3. From the foregoing description of theconstruction and operation of my invention, it will be evident that I amenabled to move the knees C, forward the desired distances to saw therequired thickness of board from a log, with one movement of therack-bar L, and that the movement of the knees C, forward, is

regulated by the location of the s topfpin ZL, in the semi-circular barH, which limits the forward movement of the lever G, so that themechanism is operated by the rackbar L, from the time the lever G,leaves the stop-pin until it moves the lever J', back into its neutralposition. The lever Gr, is prevented from moving the lever J', back ofits neutral position, by the stop H, on the bar H, against which thelever G, normally rests.

Having thus fully described the construction and operation of mechanismembodying` my invention, I do not desire to be lim.- ted to the exactdetails thereof shown .and described, because many changes therein canbe made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spiritof my invention; but what I claim as new and desire t0 secure byLetters-Patent, is

1. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of asaw-carriage, a lineshaft mounted therein, a transverse shaft mountedthereon, a pair of intermeshing imiter-gears secured on said shafts, aspurgear mounted on said transverse shaft, a friction wheel secured onsaid transverse shaft, amanually operatable lever pivoted upon the axisof said transverse shaft, gripper mechanism on said manually operatablelever adapted to engage said friction wheel and move said lever inunison with said friction wheel in one direction, adjustable means tolimit the manual movement of said lever in the opposite direction, alever pivoted on said carriage, means thereon adapted to be engaged bythe first-named lever when it is moved by said friction wheel, cylinderand piston mechanism mounted on said saw-carriage, a piston-rod therein,a rack-bar secured to said 4piston-rod intermeshing with said spur-gear,a valve communicating with said cylinder and piston mechanism adapted tocontrol the admission and exhaust of iiuid to and therefrom, a valveoperating rod pivoted to said last mentioned lever and adapted tooperate said valve when said last mentioned lever is operated,substantially as set forth.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, a saw-carriage run-way, asaw-car riage thereon, a line-shaft mounted in said carriage, cylinderand piston mechanism thereon, means operatable by said cylinder andpiston mechanism to rotate said lineshaft', valve mechanism to controladmission unwind said flexible tube in unison withthe movement of saidsaw-carriage upon said run-way, substantially as set forth.

3. In a set-works operating mechanism, a shaft, a grip-wheel o n saidshaft, a lever fulcrumed upon the axis of said shaft, a

spring-pressed gripper on said lever adapted to engage said grip-wheel,a spur-gear on said shaft, disengageable meanssadapted to cause saidspur-wheel and grip-wheel to rotate in unison, a rack-bar intermeshingwith said Spur wheel, piston mechanism to operate said rack-bar, a valveto control the admission and exhaust of fluid to and from said pistonmechanism, and mechanism adaptedrto be operated by said lever to conltrol said valve, substantially-as set forth.

4. In a set-works operating mechanism, a shaft, a grip-wheelnon-rotatably secured on said shaft, a spur-wheel rotatably mounted onsaid shaft, a clutch collar slidably and y non-rotatably mounted on saidshaft and adapted to engage the spur-wheel and cause all `of said partsto rotate with said spurwheel, and rack-bar and piston mechanism toactuate said spur-gear, substantially as set forth.

5. In a set-works operating mechanism, a shaft, a grip-wheelnon-rotatably secured thereon, a gage bar above said gripwvlieel, amovable gage stop in said bar, a lever pivoted on the axis of said shaftadapted to be manually moved into engagement with said gage-stop, aspring-pressed gripper on said lever adapted to cause said lever to movebackward in unison with said gripwheel, and a valve operating leveradapted to be engaged and operated in one direction by said first namedlever, substantially as setfforth.

6. In a set-Works operating mechanism, a drum, a iexible tube adapted towind around the same, a hollow axle for said drum, and means to connectsaid hollow axle to said flexible tube, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM M. WILKIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

